Internet Explorer Access

[notwavingjustironing]

DH just bought new laptop. All fine, have established wireless contact, but are struggling with downloading Internet Explorer or changing Home Page.

My questions are thus:-

a) What does "Home Page" mean
b) How do we make Google Chrome the default internet search engine
c)Do I need to change the browser (and how)
c)Why couldn't I sort it out???

Any assistance gratefully received, I might not be able to come back on here tonight but will be able to check first thing tomorrow.

Cheers notaccessingjuststruggling

I am quite confused by your questions I'm afraid.

If you are looking at changing a home page it sounds like you already have a working browser. Internet Explorer would already be on the laptop.

Firstly some definitions.

"Browser" is the program you open to look at the internet. You probably click on an icon on the desktop.

"Home page" is the web page that appears when you open the browser and connect to the internet. This can be anything you like.

Google Chrome is a browser not a search engine. You make Google the default search engine by visiting www.google.co.uk when you want to do a search. Also I think the modern browsers all include a search box where you can select Google or others before typing in the box.

You don't need to change the browser from Internet Explorer unless you want to. There are other better browsers out there. You have mentioned Google Chrome but the most popular is Mozilla Firefox. Type this into Google to find the download, then download and follow the instructions to install.

I think you couldn't sort this out because you haven't quite grasped the terminology or how the internet works.

I think you could very well be right.

To get Chrome on your machine (which is fast, and comparable with Firefox, though a 'younger' browser), just go to www.google.com/chrome and you can download it easily. While it is downloading, make sure the box saying 'close window' is unticked so that upon completion, you can choose to 'open' or 'run' the browser setup software. When Chrome starts, it may ask if you want it to be the default browser (which seems to be what you want, so click yes).

The 'home' page is the default page. Nearly all browsers seem to start after installation with their own 'Thanks for installing ' type welcome.

Each browser has some 'settings' or 'options' choice on a menu, and some have 'use current page' as a single button to set the page you were viewing as your 'home' page.

That would mean you could visit some web page (such as your local BBC radio station) and set that page as the 'home' page if you wanted, or use the main BBC news website, or a search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo, or even some more specialist site such as www.xe.com (currency exchange rates) or www.newsnow.co.uk (finds top stories from tens of thousands of web sites, checking every few minutes).

However long you have used the internet (I've been sending e-mail for over 20 years, and using the web for at least 15 years, since ISPs became affordable via 0845/0345 numbers), the details change every now and then, so installing software may get different questions after a matter of weeks or months, and now Microsoft has been forced to offer users a choice of browsers, and however easy they try to make things, if you feel confused, there's only so much you can do before asking for some assistance... so don't feel at all upset or embarrassed, it's just 'normal' if you are out of your depth, and even after 30 years in IT, I learn new things every day of the year.